Various methods have been provided for driving a wheel fitted on an airplane landing gear. More particularly, it has been provided to drive the wheel using a driving actuator comprising a terminal pinion engaging with a girth gear integral with the wheel. A clutch system is provided between the motor drive and the terminal pinion to enable the wheel to rotate freely. However, the terminal pinion remains permanently engaged with the girth gear, which is disadvantageous as regards security.
Using a rotating driving actuator with an output shaft supporting a roller cooperating with a driving track integral with the wheel has also been proposed. Such arrangement however has many drawbacks. Specifically, for safety reasons, it must be possible to disengage the roller from the driving track of the wheel, which requires using a movable actuator. Such arrangement can be hardly implemented. Besides, the transmission of the entire motor torque by only one roller turns out to be difficult.